Who is your favorite Black Pits 2 NPC/Gladiator?

KidCarnival

I really like all of the gladiators you can hire/team up with in Black Pits 2 and some would make really great mod NPCs for BG, too. I'm adding the joinable ones I'm aware of to the poll. Not sure if the dwarf, halfling and drow can/will join under some circumstances. Also not sure about some classes, because some of them die before I can find out. Please enlighten me.

CrevsDaak

Voghiln is somehow funny, I think of him more as a fighter but a bard fits him well too.
Mercy Whitedove is a Paladin/Fighter (she's wearing armor).

she kills Dorn on his epilogue IIRC, and she was sent by the gods

KidCarnival

I was also confused about Voghiln because he has a fighter sprite. I only noticed he's a bard when I suddenly had the note symbol and was certain my own bard wasn't singing.

I mix up Lea and Mercy in the arena a lot. I remember one of them had a fireshield at some point, which I assumed to be a Sun Soul Monk ability. What is Lea anyway? Ranger?

Arizael

Played BP2 only once, so I don't have a favourite yet. However It would be cool idea to be able to recruit them as regular NPCs for the BP. Forcing you to face the odds with people who you didn't designed and may not even like at all.

CrevsDaak

@KidCarnival I suppose that Lea is a Fighter/Mage, but she could be a ranger or a bard too.
Brother Ellraish is said to be a bard with great wisdom (according to Dennaton at the feast), Voghiln is said to be a warrior at the opening meal, but I can't say what they do in the arena since I didn't play more than Tier One.

jackjack

His character concept reminds me greatly of Parsion, a favorite minor villain of mine from an old book I still love.

KidCarnival

If you talk to Brother Ellraish, it's clear that he isn't a priest. He gets Lathander's name and domain wrong all the time and corrects himself to say something "wiser" and more "priesty" a lot. In the arena, he poisons his weapon and hides in shadows, and he uses a rogue sprite.

Voghiln looks and talks like a fighter, in the arena, he sings or goes to melee. Might be a blade?

I'm not sure what Mercy does; she's something-divine. I assumed a cleric, but she had a bladed weapon and - if I'm right - a fire shield. Might be a monk with a custom kit that is similar to SSM from abilities and altered for a different deity. Her armor/sprite doesn't say much, considering Voghiln isn't a fighter either.

I figured Lea is either a ranger or a druid due to her obsession with "Jinga". My guess would be ranger because she also instantly accuses you of being "evil", and a druid would probably not mention that. Of course, she's insane, so who knows. Maybe she's an Avenger, but I haven't seen her cast arcane spells. I accidentally took her to the demon/fiend battle, and she was instantly hit with a Cloudkill or something, so I haven't seen her in action. She just survived surprisingly long in the cloud, but that doesn't say anything about class.

Necomancer

I've often considered making a review of all the new content and encouraging others as well and in it I would mention the NPCs of BP2. I love Ellraish for several reasons, one being that its obvious hes not a priest and you can call him out on it, yet despite this others seem simply confused by it and hes still a good thief. I love the humor behind the character.

Then you have Lea Gosh'Aar. Honestly, I think they tried a bit too hard with this character and her voice sort of ruins it as well. The sudden deepness in it makes it sound like someone trying to be funny and failing. If they had kept it light and even somewhat whimsical she would have came across as manic rather then that kid you knew in grade school who would shout FART out loud in class and make everyone laugh but didn't stop doing so until it became annoying and everyone hated him.

Essentially what I'm trying to say is more silly yet believable humor and less MUFFINS in any future content, please.

KidCarnival

I just looked at the two mystery meatshields again. Mercy Whitedove is a cleric; she wears a helm and doesn't have a sword - and uses a bow. (I'm guessing she's either Fighter/Cleric ranger or a custom Doombringer of Hoar kit.)
I mixed that up with Lea again, who doesn't wear a helm and has a katana or scimitar. Pretty sure she's also the one who had the fire shield, so I guess monk here now.

BlueSorceress

So, I did a little test with CTRL+Q and checked these guys out.


Mercy Whitedove is showing as a level 32 FIghter (LN)

Brother Ellraish is a level 37 Assassin (NE)

Voghiln the Vast is indeed a Skald, level 37 (NG)

Hort Il-D'rth is a level 32 Barbarian (CE)

Feldrak Feldrak'i is a level 20/23 FIghter/Thief (CE)

Lea Gosh'Aar is a level 20/18 Fighter/Mage (CN)

Gezzthemin is a level 26 Enchanter (LE)

Dulf Ebonbeard is a level 26 Conjurer (CG)

Timmoth Godtree is a dual classed level 9 Berserker/ Level 33 Cleric (TN)

Gerrold Darkfellow is level 26 Wild Mage (TN)


I don't know if the levels vary or not depending on the PC party level, but this is what they show as in my current game (about half-way through).


My current favorite is Gezzthemin, but Ellraish is a close second. They're both so over the top that I can't help but chuckle.


-Blue

KidCarnival

@BlueSorceress It's possible they level with you, since you can't recruit some in the first tier. Hort and Timmoth say you first need to prove yourself. Possibly some others, too, I haven't tried to hire all on T1.

Can Feldrak Feldrak'i and Gezzthemin normally join or just ctrl-Q'ing? They talk to me, but repeat the same lines every time, with no option to ask them to join the battle. Same for the dwarf in the training area/by the animal cages.

element

are these guys any good in game? I never actually used any

the mad girl was quite amusing though

BlueSorceress

@KidCarnival, I've gotten Gezzthemin to join me in the arena, but I pissed Feldrak off with some short jokes early on so now all he does is threaten me. I don't know what he thinks he's up to, because my party of six high level gladiators could turn him into a fine red mist faster than you could say "ludicrous gibs."

I don't know for sure what triggered Gezzthemin's "join me in the arena" dialogue. I thought it was my party level, but I can't say for sure. I was pretty eager to get him to join up so I took every opportunity to get him. He does not disappoint, that's for sure.

Edit: BTW, in case anyone tries it, CTRL+Q doesn't allow you to keep your ill-gotten allies. The game will try to force you to reform your party almost immediately. I had about a second or two in which to pause the game so that I could examine the character information screens. The game went back to forcing me to reform the party right after I unpaused, and when I removed the NPCs, they took off to parts unknown. If you want to try this for yourself I would recommend saving before hand just in case.

-Blue

KidCarnival

@BlueSorceress What fight did you get them to join? I went to talk to everyone on T1 to T3, so maybe these two are available even later? Timmoth (and Hort, I think) only joins on higher levels, too, but he has the option to ask before. Hm. Time for more experiments.

@element: I found the 2 mages I got to join useful; they easily survived. I had the wild mage in the battle against the Five/Raveger, and he did pretty well. Voghiln is good, too. It's boring and tedious to play a skald who is most useful when he sings, and he does it automatically and moves around near the frontliners. I assumed Timmoth was an actual paladin and took him to undead fights, thinking he'd start turning them. He didn't, but he frontlines pretty well and sometimes heals injured allies. Brother Ellraish got a bit screwed because I had him first in the golem battle, where he was quite useless. In any other fight, an assassin to take out the casters is probably not a bad thing.
Mercy and Lea died relatively early or got caught up in a bunch of melee enemies, so I haven't seen how useful they are when they aren't interrupted doing whatever it is they do. Hort is as good as you'd expect from a half-orc barbarian. In other words, Timmoth is better, but if you're short on frontliners, he's ok.

I currently try some mods and have a not-really-optimal party... lead by "Obligatory Paladin" as only real frontliner, with a cleric and a druid to try "Spontanous Casting" (so they cast mostly), a bard who mostly sings (Doomsinger), and a sorcerer and a necromancer to test the updated Style for Mages stuff. The fighter NPCs definitely help, if only as meatshields for the casters.

BlueSorceress

KidCarnival said:

What fight did you get them to join? I went to talk to everyone on T1 to T3, so maybe these two are available even later? Timmoth (and Hort, I think) only joins on higher levels, too, but he has the option to ask before. Hm. Time for more experiments.

I can't remember exactly - I haven't been back to my BP2 game in a while. A quick check reveals that I can get Gezzthemin to help out in all of my Tier 3 saved games, but not in any of my Tier 2. The price for his services is 1,700 gp, and he brings to the table everything that one could hope from a level 26 Specialist Mage.

I haven't had any luck with Feldrak and Symm Haximus (who I left off my earlier list and is a level 32 LN Dwarven Defender) I think I chose some bad dialogue options with Feldrak, and I'm not still not 100% sure if you can even get him and Symm at all. I assume that you can because every other NPC gladiator will sign on at some point.

I haven't gotten past the fight with the ulitharid and the mind flayers though, so maybe they change their tune at a higher tier.

-Blue

elminster

Edit: bluesorcerous already wrote what I would have written

KidCarnival

@BlueSorceress - Not based on tier for the dwarf and halfling, if I remember right. I had a melee heavy party in my previous game, and hence didn't seek out the 3 NPCs in the training arena until at least the dragon. I originally wanted the dwarf to help tanking, and when he didn't offer it, I took Timmoth instead. Or I messed up in the dialogue. I asked the halfling if he was Dennaton's hospitality coordinator. But with the dwarf, no idea, I usually pick the "neutral"/middle option with a mixed party.

It would be strange though if these two just stand around and can't be hired.

Do the hiring fees depend on tier or charisma? Half of them lowered their fee to 1000 or 500 the second time I asked, and some came for free (Brother Ellraish and Voghiln), but I don't remember which party/leader I asked with.

Pecca

BlueSorceress said:

@KidCarnival, I've gotten Gezzthemin to join me in the arena, but I pissed Feldrak off with some short jokes early on so now all he does is threaten me. I don't know what he thinks he's up to, because my party of six high level gladiators could turn him into a fine red mist faster than you could say "ludicrous gibs."

I don't know for sure what triggered Gezzthemin's "join me in the arena" dialogue. I thought it was my party level, but I can't say for sure. I was pretty eager to get him to join up so I took every opportunity to get him. He does not disappoint, that's for sure.

Edit: BTW, in case anyone tries it, CTRL+Q doesn't allow you to keep your ill-gotten allies. The game will try to force you to reform your party almost immediately. I had about a second or two in which to pause the game so that I could examine the character information screens. The game went back to forcing me to reform the party right after I unpaused, and when I removed the NPCs, they took off to parts unknown. If you want to try this for yourself I would recommend saving before hand just in case.

-Blue

If you ctrl+z your allies and remove them from the party, you can keep ctrl+q-ed allies then.

BlueSorceress

Pecca said:

If you ctrl+z your allies and remove them from the party, you can keep ctrl+q-ed allies then.

Thanks for that info - very interesting.


-Blue

Illustair

Gezzthemin the drow mage as to the favorite character-character. Reminds me of Baeloth, but has his own charm that perhaps I even like better than Baeloth (that's quite something). Symm Haximus as to favorite character in terms of usefulness. He sure can take heavy punishment, just like what he always say the technique in surviving the arena is not to get hit (or to be able to absorb hits), and winning will only be a matter of time. In difficult battles, I always tag him along (plus he's free IIRC).

Here's what's been bothering me though *spoiler

Can you save Brother Ellraish??

KidCarnival

@Illustair How do you get Symm Hadimus to join you? I tried the "nice" dialogue option (not calling him arrogant), but I still get no option to hire him. Last attempt was after the demilich battle/before the dragon.

Delvarian

I took Timmoth in the battle against the two liches (they had whiped my party) and he absolutely dominated them. He has been my favorite since then.

Illustair

@KidCarnival
Sorry I'd like to help you out, but I can't remember and my laptop motherboard crashed so I can't check my saves. But I'm almost sure it was very straightforward and was early on; if I recall correctly, he was the easiest to hire. Are you sure you didn't hire another gladiator?

KidCarnival

@Illustair - I went through all rooms and talked to all NPCs during the first tier, just to see who I could hire already. In that room, no-one offered (except Hort said I don't have scars of battle yet), so I moved on and hired Mercy, the last one on my round. Hm. Maybe I did pick the wrong dialogue, or it was too early (before the first fight).

Illustair

Maybe he's available for hire on 2nd tier and thereafter, I can't say for certain. Wrong dialogue is possibility too I'm afraid. Have the time figuring out how to hire him, he's a beast I'm telling you. EXTREMELY useful for a solo or two-team run, he's the toughest among the gladiators and his damage output is very decent.

KidCarnival

@Illustair I'll keep trying. I just hope I didn't mess it up again. I'm starting T2 in my current game, still have hope. And should I decide to write a BP2 version of the non sequitur BP guide, I better figure out how to hire everyone.

Shivan

Symm Haximus is possibly the most powerful dwarf I've ever seen in BG or IWD. This little guy survives liches, vampires, and bone golems like it aint no thang. My party's all worried about "did we get the planetar up? Who's working on spellstrking the lich with the spelltrap?" and he just ignores me and sits there taking the brunt of every enemy on the field, magical or otherwise, and I've never seen him more damaged than Injured. Frankly, I have to respect him for his invincibility regardless if he doesn't want me leaving the arena.